Poll: 44 percent of Americans admit to trying marijuana

The number of people who say they've tried marijuana has increased to 44 percent in 2015, up from 4 percent in 1969, the first time Gallup's polling operation asked the question. (REPUBLICAN FILE)

By Gintautas Dumcius
The number of Americans who say they've tried marijuana has increased to 44 percent, up from 38 percent in 2013, according to a new national poll.
The poll from Gallup comes as states are moving ahead with legalization of recreational marijuana and implementing medical marijuana. The federal government still classifies marijuana as an illegal substance.
When Gallup first asked the question in 1969, the number of people who said they tried marijuana was four percent, according to the polling outfit.

The latest poll of 1,009 adults was conducted between July 8 and July 12 and also asked Americans whether they currently smoke marijuana. Eleven percent said they do, 88 percent said they do not.
Recreational marijuana is legal in Alaska, Colorado, Oregon and Washington state, as well as the District of Columbia.
Pro-marijuana groups in Massachusetts are seeking to place a question on the 2016 statewide ballot that would legalize the substance.

Bay State voters approved a ballot question setting up medical marijuana in 2012, after approving a measure decriminalizing small amounts of marijuana in 2008.
In a release on their 2015 poll, Gallup also analyzed the demographics in their polling over the years:

Though Americans younger than age 30 are most likely to say they currently smoke pot (18%), adults between the ages of 30 and 64 are most likely to say they have ever tried it. The latter group includes many baby boomers, who accounted for the sharp increase in admitted use Gallup found between 1969 and 1973. Few adults in the 65 and older age group, which includes the oldest boomers, say they currently smoke marijuana (3%), and they are the least likely to say they have ever tried it (22%).

Proponents of legalizing marijuana in Massachusetts face a deadline of Aug. 5 to submit their proposed 2016 ballot language to the state attorney general's office.
Legalization is opposed by Gov. Charlie Baker and Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, who has referred to marijuana as a gateway drug to other substances.